Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(10): 367-380 International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 10 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.910.046 An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Pteridophytes in Kodagu Region of Western Ghats, India R. H. Suraj1, M. Jadeyegowda1, C. G. Kushalappa1, V. Maheshwarappa1 and S. Y. Chandrashekar2 1College of Forestry, Ponnampet Kodagu, India 2College of Horticulture, Mudigere, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Ethnopharmacological relevance: Interest in the medicinal pteridophytes for their traditional utility and associated pharmacological research is intensifying all over the world in the past few decades. This paper enumerated medicinal pteridophytes used by K e yw or ds people in an unexplored and biodiversity rich Western Ghats in Southern India. Study aims to identify the pteridophytes used in medicinal therapy by the local people. This Quantitative ethnobotanical survey was carried out during 2019-2020 among the people in Kodagu Ethnobotany, region in the Western Ghats, India. The information was obtained through interviews using Pteridophyte, a semi-structured questionnaire with local people. The quantitative analysis like, use value, Western Ghats, family use value, informant’s consensus factor, fidelity level, relative frequency citation, Traditional medicine and informants agreement ratio were calculated for the quantitative study of the ethnobotanical data. A total of 33 Pteridophyte species were enumerated which were belongs to 19 families and among them Pteridaceae and Polypodiaceae were dominant. Article Info The detailed information on parts used, method of preparation, mode of application, and Accepted: ailments treated were recorded. Leaves were predominantly used plant part, and a 04 September 2020 decoction is the most used herbal preparation method. Cyathea gigantea and Dicranopteris Available Online: linearis are given the highest Use Value (UV) of 1.5 due to their diverse medicinal uses. 10 October 2020 The present study stresses the need to protect the indigenous knowledge of unexplored pteridophytes. As a result of the survey, Dryanria quercifolia, Adiantum phillippense and Lygodium flexiosum were recommended for further ethnopharmacological studies as these plants were recorded with high Use value, Informant’s Agreement Ratio, Relative Frequency Citation and Fidelity level values. Introduction the globe, not only because of its beautiful and unique foliage but also because of their Pteridophytes are called as reptile group of useful aspects. Medicine in contemporary plants and are one of the earliest groups of India is a fascinating blend of the traditional vascular plants (Karthik et al., 2011). This system with a conventional system and deeply fascinating group of plants is always embedded in nationalist sentiment (Khan, attracting the botanist and naturalist all over 2006). These medicines are not only adopted 367 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(10): 367-380 by the people of low socio-economic classes Data collection but also by others. Although modern medicine may be available in countries like India, these The study was undertaken during 2019-2020 traditional systems of medicine have often to document the ethnomedicine information in been used for various historical, cultural and Kodagu. A semi-structured questionnaire was ecological reasons (Kunwar et al., 2010). The prepared, which included information like rate of medicinal plant usage is increasing, plant local name, part used, ailment, mode of but only a little is known about its use application. To ensure the same questions patterns (Ramawat and Goyal, 2008). were asked to all respondents, a printed questionnaire was used (Martin, 2008). Indigenous knowledge of medicinal pteridophytes can be preserved by revealing In-situ and Ex-situ methods were used to the past and present culture about plants in the collect data. Fresh plant material was used as world by conducting ethnobotanical studies. an ex-situ method of information collection, To identify the plant uses as food (Pieroni, and a plant photograph chart (which was 2001), human health care medicines (Kim and prepared) was used as an in-situ information Song, 2013), veterinary medicine (Upadhyay collection method. et al., 2011) and economically importantance (Reyes-Garcia et al., 2006) quantitative In this study totally interviewed 20 ethnobotanical swotting were used. respondents (13 males and seven females) Considering the importance of Pteridophytes, (Table 1). During the discussion, information the present study was undertaken to assess the like common ailments, fern species, methods traditional medicine importance in the of preparation, and application used was Western Ghats. documented. The plant specimens were collected and were identified with “Fantastic Materials and Methods Ferns of Dehradun and Mussoorie Hills’’ (Rawat, 2014). Study area Data analysis The present study was conducted in Virajpet taluq, Kodagu district. The Kodagu district Quantitative methods that are used to analyze located in the NE 11° 57′ N and SW 74° 55′ E the ethnobotanical data provide information covering an area of 4102 Km2 (Fig. 1) with an on the importance and preference of fern altitude ranges from 900 MSL to 1200 MSL. species to the people and help in the The average rainfall was measured is 2552.54 conservation of fern species (Byg and mm. Most houses in Kodagu are scattered Balslev, 2001). The following formulae were over the district, not congregated at a place. used for statistical analysis. The modern medicine facilities like medicines and doctors are far away from reaching Use value (UV) people as they are located in interior areas. So, the people are still dependent on plants in Use value reflects the importance of plants to their surroundings for food and the traditional the respondents (Phillips et al., 1994). It was medicine use of the plant species basically calculated using the following formula transferred from generation to generation to cure diseases, etc. UV = ∑ U/ n 368 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(10): 367-380 Where U represent number of use reports Informants consensus factor (ICF) cited by each respondent for a given plant species, and n represent total number of ICF was calculated to find out the agreement respondents interviewed for a given plant. of informants on the reported use reports for a different type of diseases. ICF value was The UV is co determines the plants with the calculated using the following formula highest utility in the treatment of an ailment. (Heinrich et al., 1998) UV will be high when there are many use reports for a plant and low when there are few ICF = Nur – Nt / Nur – 1 reports related to its utility (Silambarasan et al., 2015). Where Nur represent the number of use reports for a particular ailment category, and Family use-value (FUV) Nt is the number of taxa used for the particular ailment category. Family use value was calculated to identify the essential medicinal plant families in the Relative frequency citation (RFC) study area. FUV was calculated by the following formula, The local importance of each plant species was calculated using the relative frequency of FUV = UVs/Ns citation (Tardio and Pardo-De-Santayana., 2008). The RFC value was calculated using Where, UVs are the sum of the use value of the following formula the species within a given family, and Ns RFC = Fc / N represent the total number of species within a given family (Cadena-Gonzalez et al., 2013). Where Fc is the number of use reports of particular plant taxa mentioned by a number The FUV is an index of cultural importance of informants, and N is a total number of that can be applied in ethnobotany to calculate informants. the value of plant species (Gakuubi and Wanzala, 2012). Informants agreement ratio (IAR) Fidelity level (FL) The importance of individual species was assessed by calculating the IAR for each Fidelity level was calculated to identify the species (Trotter and Logan, 1986). IAR was most important medicinal plant species used calculated by the following formula, in the treatment of various diseases. FL was calculated using the following formula (as IAR = Nr – Na / Nr – 1 given by Silambarasan et al., 2015), Where, Nr is the total number of citations FL = Ns / N * 100 recorded for individual taxa, and Na is the number of illness categories treated with this Where, Ns represent the frequency of citation species. The IAR value zero (0) indicates the of a species for a particular plant ailment, and number of illness categories equals the N represent the total number of citations of number of citations, and one (1) indicates all the species. the participants mentioned the plant species for a particular disease (Thomas et al., 2009). 369 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(10): 367-380 Ailment categories Dennastadtiaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Gleichniaceae, Lomariopsidaceae, The diseases documented in the present study Lycopodiaceae, Maratticeae, Marsileaceae (1 were classified into 12 ailment categories plant each, 3%). (Table 2). Such as dental care (DC), dermatological infection and disorder (DID), Plant parts used ear nose tongue (ENT), endocrinal disorder (ED), fever (FV), gastrointestinal ailments Among the plant part used for the preparation (GIA), genitor urinary problem (GUP), hair of medicine, leaves (59 reports, 46%) were care (HC), kidney problem (KP), liver most frequently used